Proposed drilling and work-over operations with well heads installed under water make it desirable to perform specific repair and maintenance evolutions without bringing either a worn stripper element or an entire blowout preventer (BOP) to the surface. Current methods below safe depths for diver operations require bringing the BOP component to the surface for refurbishment. Such an operation is expensive, time consuming, and results in significant down time for the well being maintained.
Shallower operations may be performed by a diver, but as drilling operations take place at ever increasing depths, such techniques become impractical. The following disclosure facilitates replacement of worn packer sealing elements, and/or replacement of such an element with a different size or having a different function, such as changing from a packer to a slip element. Further, these functions are performed without the aid of a diver.
This invention provides a method of installing and removing a cartridge having a wear element on it. Thus, a wear element to be replaced may be replaced with a new element of the same size and type, or of either a different size and or a different function. That is, a packer can be replaced with a fresh seal and or wear bushings of the same or a different size. The cartridge is installed and/or removed using a coiled tubing work string, a wireline, or drill pie.